The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed in a press release on Friday, July 29, 2022, that Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry has directed a letter to the current president of the United Nations Security Council, Ronaldo Costa Filho, formally registering Egypt’s rejection of Ethiopia’s continuation of its unilateral action to fill the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) without reaching an agreement with Egypt and Sudan on the dam’s filing and operation. In the official letter, sent also on Friday, Shoukry expressed that Ethiopia’s one-sided measures are considered a direct and explicit violation of the 2015 ‘Declaration of Principles’ agreement signed by the three countries. The agreement stipulated conditions of cooperation, equitable and reasonable utilization of common water resources, and stated that “causing significant harm” to any of the countries should be avoided through all means necessary. Egypt also accused Ethiopia of breaching the binding applicable rules of international law, which obligate upstream countries, such as Ethiopia, to avoid inflicting damage on downstream countries, such as Egypt and Sudan. The letter stated that Ethiopia has frustrated all efforts to resolve the GERD issue, despite Egypt’s keenness throughout negotiations held across the…
